The President of the Agricultural Council Poblano (Ceagro), Francisco Alvarez Laso, stated that, so far this year, a total of 10,000 hectares of apple trees, peach, plums and pears were affected by hail and delayed heavy rains; a situation that will result in problems for producers. Alvarez Laso emphasized that the low production will affect cider producers, suppliers of companies engaged in the production of juices, and small producers who won't achieve the harvest they expected next year. Within the framework the Sixth Regional Agribusiness and Viable Projects for New Business Development Forum that is being held in the University Cultural Complex (CCU) of the Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), Laso also stated that more than 1,500 families in the areas of Zacatlán, Zaragoza, Teziutlán, San Salvador El Seco, Soltepec, and Mazapiltepec de Juarez had been directly affected. "It's a bad agricultural year. We have not had the rain we require. The rains seem to be starting now. We had a fairly prolonged heatwave and it didn't rain when the trees needed it. We also had many hailstorms. It was an atypical year. We could feel there would be a problem because of the presence of El Niño, but it started late. There is still the risk that, next year, we'll have early frosts and hailstorms when the plants are producing the first buds of produce. Climate change is affecting us," said the president of Ceagro. He stated that apple producers had signed farming agreements with the company Jumex; however, they had been unable to meet the 14,000-ton demand and had only delivered 2,000. "The drop in production is affecting cider producers. However, there will be enough production to meet demand in this year's holidays. What will be released in the market is what was harvested during 2014, so there could be a potential shortage next year," he concluded. Source - http://www.freshplaza.com